Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Impatient by Djaïli Amadou Amal

24 reviews

mionnechan's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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stardust_ashes's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A travers l'histoire de trois filles et jeunes femmes, nous découvrons les mariages arrangés et polygames dans la culture peule. Elles doivent faire face à de la violence physique et morale. Ce livre permet de faire découvrir la place de la femme, et la réponse qui leur est donnée à toutes leurs questions: "Munyal" - "Patience". 

C'est donc une histoire bouleversante sur les droits des femmes qui aborde de nombreux sujets difficiles. Lecture compliquée mais nécessaire. Très lourd de sens et de force.

J'ai cependant trouvé un bémol au récit. La narration est très passive: beaucoup de choses sont racontées mais pas montrées et du coup cela enlève un côté immersif. Ce livre est un moyen pour les femmes de reprendre le contrôle de leur histoire mais je trouve que cet aspect passif enlève un peu de force à l'histoire.

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bobinsbooknook's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A harrowing book and glad to have listened to it –the writing style alone captured such depth of emotion and heartache in such a short book – incredibly written.

Each of the women’s stories felt unique and broke my heart to hear about their struggles with patience – which in this context just means to be submissive to their partners abuse and emotional torment as Muslims in Cameroon – and how they intwined with one another.

The story of Hindou being beaten and abused into a state on numbness and questioned sanity was for me the most devastating.


An incredibly powerful read about, unlike anything I have read before and will be keeping an eye out for a physical copy as I can see myself reading again!

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hex_agon's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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joelle_lecturechocolathe's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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petitpoucetreveur's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Ce livre me laisse profondément partagée. Je trouve que c'est un roman important et efficace dans son projet de donner la parole à des femmes qui ne l'ont pas, de montrer une réalité sociale et culturelle qui semble si inconcevable et révoltante pour des lecteurs occidentaux du XXIe siècle. Le parcours de ces trois femmes, leur oppression et leur souffrance imposés par une culture patriarcale et misogyne ne doit pas être ignoré sous prétexte que ce n'est pas agréable à lire. C'est un livre immersif et sans pitié pour son lecteur qu'il plonge dans la dureté d'une société où les femmes ne sont que des épouses en devenir, condamnées à la volonté de leur père et mari. Néanmoins, bien que je comprenne l'importance de ce type de témoignage, l'écriture ne m'a pas convaincu. Elle est simple, droit au but, un brin redondante. Dans une certaine mesure, cette simplicité stylistique participe à l'authenticité du discours, mais d'un autre côté, je déplore une forme de pauvreté du style d'écriture. Je pense qu'une écriture plus travaillée aurait pu accompagner le destin de ces femmes. Après, là n'était peut-être pas l'objectif, et ce n'est qu'un reproche tout à fait personnel. 

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cpsawcd's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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themeanfrench's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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careinthelibrary's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

 The Impatient is a novel from Cameroon which explores the issues of polygamy and forced marriage through the experiences of three different women. The realities of not being permitted a choice in who you marry, in having your husband take another wife and being expected to welcome and train her, of arriving in a strange home and being subservient to and subject to the whims of a first wife who resents your presence, of having no rights or fallbacks if your husband becomes violent - all these and more are canvassed in this short but impactful story. The women resisted, fought back, and tried to gain agency, not always in admirable ways. But in a situation where they have no rights and no protections it is easy to see why they may have made the choices they did. A powerful read. 

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